Are you a Yahoo! Plus premium services subscriber (no, I'm not talking to you people with SBC or Verizon DSL accounts)? Then you need to consider what you're going to do about your overflowing Briefcase account, your carefree access to your Y! Photos, where to get your AntiVirus protection from, and whether to sign up for the various separate services you've been enjoying as a Y! Plus subscriber.

UPDATE: Not to be confused with Y! Mail Plus. If you subscribe to Y! Mail Plus only, then there is no change.



Emails went out to Yahoo! Plus service subscribers informing them that Yahoo! Plus service will be discontinued on April 22nd.

"We're writing to let you know that the Yahoo! Plus service will be discontinued as of 11:59 p.m. PST on April 22, 2006. At that time, the premium benefits associated with your Yahoo! Plus membership will end, but you may continue using your Yahoo! Plus ID and password to sign in to Yahoo! and access your personal data (such as your email, photos, My Yahoo! content, etc.). Any sub-accounts you created will be similarly affected."

One of the biggest perquisites of subscribing to the Yahoo! Plus package is the Yahoo! Mail Plus service. But not to worry.

"... to thank you for being a loyal Yahoo! Plus customer, we're offering you extended credit on your Yahoo! Mail Plus subscription: we'll pay for the next year of service. After that, we'll resume charging you as normal. No action is required from you - this credit will be applied automatically."

The letter recommends going to a FAQ page to learn how this will affect all the different services. But I can save you some time:

Y! Briefcase: Your storage limit will be decreased from 100MB to 30MB. You will still be able to access your stored files, though if you are in excess of the 30MB limit, you will not be able to add any new files until there are less than 30MB of storage. Everything else will remain the same.

Y! Photos: You still have unlimited storage but you will no longer be able to download high-resolution photos that you have added to your Yahoo! Photo album. It is recommended that you download all your high resolution photos to your PC or other storage device in advance of the Yahoo! Plus termination April 22, 2006. Everything else will remain the same.

CA EZ AntiVirus: It will continue to work but you will no longer receive the latest anti-virus protection updates after April 22, 2006.

LaunchCAST Plus: Your premium benefits of LAUNCHcast Plus such as commercial-free music, access to premium stations, and unlimited song skipping, will no longer be available. Everything else will remain the same.

Zonelabs Firewall: Your Zone Labs firewall will still continue to work. Please go to the Zone Labs site for more information on how to keep your computer protected.

Parental Controls: Parental Controls will no longer control any sub-accounts you have configured. If you are the master account, you will no longer have access to sub accounts. All accounts, master and sub accounts, will have full access to the Internet.

Y! Games All-Stars: Your access will end. You can subscribe directly for this service though.

Yahoo! by Phone: Your access will end. You can subscribe directly for this service though.

"If you wish to receive the entire package of benefits you've enjoyed as a Yahoo! Plus customer, you can subscribe to one of Yahoo!'s high-speed Internet services offered in partnership with AT&T or Verizon."

I have never recommended tying one's primary mail address to their ISP (e.g. me@comcast.net, me@verizon.net, me@sbcglobal.net). Over the past several years (almost a decade) I have had one email address (me@yahoo.com) although I have had several ISPs. Why do I want to lose all my email and have to  tell everyone I have a new email address when I switch ISPs? That's an obnoxious dependency. Tying one's entire Yahoo! relationship to their ISP is creating an even greater dependency. I recommend against it. Better to set up a Yahoo! account that you can use regardless of your ISP and tie all your paid services and subscriptions to it.

Can't say we didn't see it coming. The Y! Browser for Plus subscribers is full of dead links and enrollment has been difficult if not impossible for almost a year.

Ah well, I enjoyed the service for the most part. Now I have some decisions to make.